Friday, June 28, 2013

Happy Friday! We have a super busy day ahead of us so I'm going to get right to the stamping!

We've got a great sketch for you to work with this time around at Fab Friday. There are so many possibilities with that larger square panel I can't wait to see what you all come up with! Remember play along and link your project so we can all oooohhh and aaaahhh over it!

Check it out:

Your creative wheels are turning! I can hear them!

This is what I came up with. I needed an anniversary card for my husband as our anniversary is next week. 10 years has gone by in the blink of an eye that's for sure. We have always tried to keep with the traditional gift giving ideas for anniversaries such as paper, wood, leather, copper etc. It's kind of fun to try to come up with something original within the traditional gift idea. The tenth anniversary is tin so it's a bit tougher to come up with a good gift…tin cans don't have much use! I wanted to make sure I tied the card in with the gift so I used some tin foil as an element! I just adhered the foil to a piece of cardstock and then ran it through the Big Shot with the Stripes embossing folder. I also pierced the foil layer using the circle piercing template.

And sorry for the poor photo….who knew tin foil was so hard to photograph! My color combination came from a paper plate that I saw at Target a while back and I thought it was a fun guy card combination.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Fab Friday design team to see what they have come up with for this sketch!

Before we get down to the business of stamping (which hasn't happened too much lately at my house!) I want to remind those of you who read my blog using Google Reader that as of July 1 Google Reader will be going bye bye. I know you would be heartbroken if you missed out on any of my projects! =) There are a few top contenders out there to take the spot of Google Reader. So far I've heard the most about Feedly and Bloglovin'. I've just started using both and will see which one takes the cake in the end. But for now if you follow a lot of blogs and would have no idea where to start if you had to re-create your list then I suggest finding a new reader and at least import your feeds so they are stored some place until you decide. Feedly and Bloglovin' both have like 2 clicks to import your list from G. Reader so that's a bonus in my book.

On to the stamping stuff. I made this card a while ago at the end of the preschool year to thank the parents that volunteered during Teacher Appreciation Week. Many of them provided food for the teacher or brought them special treats so I wanted to make sure that their effort was recognized.

I made about 20 of these so I wanted them to be pretty easy to make. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a lot of Sale-a-Bration DSP left! The Sycamore Street DSP is a great all purpose pack to have around. The thank you tag is stamped with one of the stamps from the Dude, You're Welcome kit, the button is also from Sale-a-bration and the Island Indigo arrow was stamped with the Designer Typeset photopolymer set.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

I made this card quite a while ago as a swap for the Baltimore Stampin' Up! regional meeting in April. It's a fun guy card and can be easily changed for a birthday as well.

Making Stampin' Up! swaps in the month of April is a tough thing….the spring and annual catalogs were coming to a close, retirement lists were soon approaching, retired colors were already announced. In short, it was a guessing game as to what stamp sets would still be available. I tried to play it safe with current In Colors and a stamp set that was new within the last year.

Blue ribbon is a fun set in that you can customize the center with just about anything you can punch out with a circle. There are a variety of images that come with the set and you can also added other elements from other stamp sets.

I went with the great guy color combination of Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Marina Mist and Crumb Cake.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Happy Friday and Happy Last Day of School and Happy New Fab Friday Challenge! Wow! That's a lot of happy isn't it?

It is actually the 20th Fab Friday challenge! I can't believe we've had that many already. Time flies when you're having fun. I hope you've been inspired as much as I have. I love seeing my fellow design team members cards and get so many ideas from them for my own stamping. I hope you'll join us this week and break out those new In Colors and create something fabulous!

Here is the color palette:

I'll be honest with you…when Mindy gave us this group of colors to work with I was a bit scared…5 colors is a lot and while I like all the colors individually I wasn't quite sure how to combine them into one card. I thought and thought and then decided that a CAS design was in order to keep a handle on all the color!

Here is what I came up with:

This was a super hard card to photograph for some reason…all the white? The sparkle? The photographer? I seriously took about 40 pictures in various rooms, different lighting, phone and camera…It just wasn't happening and this is the best of the bunch. I like it way more in person.

The base is Strawberry Slush and then a layer of Silver Glimmer paper. Next, I embossed a layer of Shimmery White with the new Modern Mosaic embossing folder. I used the edge of my tag as a guide to trim the corners from these 2 layers to echo the shape of the tag.

Ink pads and an Aquapainter were used to brush the In Color inks right onto another piece of Shimmery White. Then I cut out the tag shape with the new Chalk Talk framelits (LOVE these!).

Then I punched out matching butterflies with the Bitty Butterfly punch and added them to the tag with glue dots. I dressed them up a bit with rhinestones and then finished the tag with an organza ribbon knot.

The congratulations banner was stamped with Baked Brown Sugar ink onto more Shimmery White cardstock. Even though the Sweet Essentials stamp set isn't new I'm still digging it. I just love the font and the long skinny designs are perfect for banners/flags. I finished off the sentiment with a large rhinestone.

So don't be afraid of all these new colors! Get to stamping and show us your stuff over at Fab Friday!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A new baby is a wonderful reason to make a card isn't it? And using new supplies to make it is even better!

Since I haven't bought too many new stamps yet I had to use what was in my stamp room. I need to sell off a bunch of retired items so then I can restock with new rubber! I really didn't have anything that was baby so this single stamp Ears to You was as close as I could get.

My layout is from a new challenge site that I came across Cas(e) this Sketch. Since my stamping (ie alone) time will be limited over the summer with the boys home I know I need to make the most of those precious moments in the stamp room. I found a few new challenge sites to help me narrow my focus. Here is the sketch from the ladies over at Cas(e) this Sketch:

I'm loving this fresh color combo taken straight from the new color coach (same style, new combos for the reconfigured color collections!). Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding and Baked Brown Sugar. It's girlie but not the typical pink for a baby card.

The Simply Pressed clay is really cool and I know the more I play with it the more uses I'll find for it. It's moldable clay and molds to make your own buttons and flower accents. You can color the clay with reinkers, ink pad or markers to make accessories in any color you want! To be able to have a button in any of the 50 colors is awesome in my book.

And the ruffle stretch trim is fantastic. It's lightweight, has a tiny bit of sheen and it well, stretches! I can see this being used a lot for gift packaging and tags! I did a ribbon share with some fellow demos so I'm anxious to see the other In Colors in person! My card uses the Baked Brown Sugar trim and I used 3 layers on my card.

What is your favorite item so far from the new catalog? I know, how can you choose just one right?

Sunday, June 9, 2013

I promise one of these days I'll have some projects using new items from the catalog but in the meantime here's another reason why we all loved Just Believe and First Edition Specialty DSP and may have cried a tear or two when they showed up on the retirement last last month. This was a card we made at my last club meeting before the new catalog came out.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

My project today it one that took literally 5 minutes but makes all the difference! My husband likes bourbon and in the spring and summer makes a lot of mint juleps with mint we have growing in our garden. Last year he introduced one of our neighbors to mint juleps and now the neighbor loves them too. Our mint hasn't quite taken off yet this year but we got a nice bunch in our farm box one week so Matt decided to make a big batch of mint simple syrup and share some with the neighbor.

Once it was cooled enough Matt tried to find a container to put it in to bring over to the neighbors. I remembered a mason jar I had from a cookie mix gift that I was given. We poured it in and it was ready to go. The only problem; the mint simple syrup totally looked liked pee in a jar. Gross right? You can't just go walking around the neighborhood and have people think you're carrying around a sample that should go to a lab or something.

Stampin' Up! to the rescue! I told Matt to wait a few minutes while I made a tag to put on the jar to tone down the bodily fluid vibe of the gift.

See a tag makes it better! I love this Happy Hour set. It's perfect for so many occasions, though I do wish it had a rocks or old fashioned glass in the line up….none of the glasses really fit a mint julep. I used a few of the new colors on the tag and cut it out with an Apothecary Accents framelit. I tied the tag around the jar with some retired Certainly Celery taffeta ribbon.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Our church's Sunday School program ended for the summer a few weeks ago. As with any church so many of the positions are volunteers using their time and talents for God's work. Our Sunday school teachers are no different. They are there every Sunday for most of the year teaching our children and we, of course, wanted to thank them for their time and dedication to this important church ministry. The boys each had 3 teachers this year and several of them were guys so I needed to come up with something that wan't too gender specific.

Matt and Ryan had gone out one Saturday to do some errands so I asked that they stop at a local greenhouse and pick up some potted gerbera daisy for the gifts. Once they got there Matt texted to say that the daisies were really big and that they found these other house plants called prayer plants. How much more perfect can you get and they were even more gender neutral then the daisies! Sold!

I made very simple plant stakes to stick right into the pots. A few bright, cheerful colors and some wooden skewers and we were in business!

In the interest of time (and space!) I wrote out the sentiment and had the boys sign their names.

So easy and I love that these sweet little plants are called prayer plants!

Guess what Mr. Brown delivered to my house this morning?? Yup, you guessed it….My first order from the new 2013-2014 Stampin' Up! catalog! Woo Hoo! If you're local to me and need a copy of the catalog just give a shout! If you're an online friend you can check out the catalog through my website. See the side bar there --------> for the link!

I can't wait to play and show some of the fun new products that Stampin' Up! has for us this year!

About Me

I'm an at home mom to 2 boys, wife to an awesome husband who just goes with the flow when it comes to my hobby (or as he might call it- obsession!) and an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator since 2009.

Copyright Stuff

The content in this blog is my sole responsibility as an independent Stampin’ Up! demonstrator and the use of and content of the classes, services, or products offered here are not endorsed by Stampin’ Up! Stamp images copyright Stampin' Up and designs copyright Amanda Mertz unless otherwise noted. I am sharing on here for personal inspiration and gratification only and posts are not allowed to be copied for submission to contests, magazines etc. Thank you!